The Los Angeles Clippers may have re-engaged the Boston Celtics in trade talks for Doc Rivers in June because of a threat from Chris Paul.

Writing at Grantland, ESPN’s Bill Simmons says the Clips went back to the negotiating table after initially turning down a deal with the Celtics because their all-star point guard threatened to leave for the Houston Rockets if they didn’t acquire the coach, which they eventually did.

Here’s what Simmons says:

To Chris Paul, who basically told the Clippers that after they squashed the first incarnation of their Doc Rivers trade. Chris didn’t like that. He let them know he was heading to Houston to team up with Dwight. And he wasn’t kidding. For about 36 hours, Morey probably felt like all 11 guys in Ocean’s Eleven. You know what happened next: The Clippers blinked, the Doc trade got revived and finished, and the Clippers were offering Chris 107 million reasons to play for him. Crisis averted. The lesson, as always: Chris Paul runs the Clippers.

This report jives with what we’ve previously written. We posted a story in June that said the Clippers re-engaged the Celtics in trade talks for Rivers because CP3 pressured them. The talk all throughout the offseason was that Paul wanted the Clippers to get rid of Vinny Del Negro as coach, though he was angry with those rumors getting out.

The real interesting part of this report is that CP3 was threatening to join Dwight Howard in Houston. That means Howard knew in June that he was going to sign with the Rockets. It also means the report that Paul and Howard were talking about teaming up is true. It also means what everyone already knew: the Clippers are at CP3′s mercy.

H/T Slam

Note to NBA teams not named the Los Angeles Clippers: don’t bother pursuing Chris Paul, because the point guard plans to remain with the Clips. At least that’s what ESPN is reporting.

ESPN the Magazine’s Chris Broussard reports that CP3′s representatives have told inquiring teams not to bother pursuing him because the All-Star point guard plans to remain with the Clippers despite being a free agent.

Paul was traded to the Clippers from the New Orleans Hornets prior to the 2011-2012 NBA season and took an immediate liking to LA. He even bought a house in the Bel Air Crest gated community. There were some concerns that Paul was unhappy with the team over the implication that his dissatisfaction with Vinny Del Negro cost the coach his job, but the team’s ability to acquire Doc Rivers may have changed his attitude toward the team; Paul badly wanted Rivers as the team’s coach.

[Related: Chris Paul Buying Avril Lavigne’s Bel Air Crest Mansion in LA]

Broussard says there were only slim chances of CP3 leaving the Clippers before Rivers was hired and that the point guard did entertain the thought of teaming with Dwight Howard and joining the Atlanta Hawks. That must have only been briefly entertained, because it sounds like Paul is staying in LA, while Howard may be headed to Houston.